American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

In early August the world commemorates the nuclear disaster of the atomic bombs and laments the inhumane destruction of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At least I have always perceived these horrific events through the victims’ perspective, and naturally, for me the victims are all these civilians labelled as casualties. I have read many stories, emerging myself into all possible narratives first postmodernly and then multiculturally stemming from the grand historic narrative of the WW II. Nonetheless, I have to admit that the story of the one remaining in history as “the father of the atomic bomb” had never been of much interest to me. Until now.

The voluminous Pulitzer Prize winning biography called “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” is a product of 25-year research in archives, historical evidence and hundreds of interviews conducted by the journalist Kai Bird and the historian Martin J. Sherwin. These guys definitely knew what they were doing in terms of keeping the reader’s attention because even though the book is thick and full of historical and scientific facts and references, it reads almost as quickly as a page-turner. It is a serious read though. Deadly serious (dark sense of humor is always necessary).  

The introduction muses on the significance of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s discovery and its importance to humankind is compared to the fire given to people by the rebellious Greek titan Prometheus. Therefore, the authors not only compare the physicist to the mythological hero drawing parallels between their unfortunate fate and harsh punishments from the Gods, but also call Oppenheimer The American Prometheus and use this phrase as a title.  At first such audacity astounded me as too cynical since in Greek mythology Prometheus is considered as the creator of mankind and a really humane persona. How can he be compared to the stereotype of a crazy scientist known to people as “the destroyer of worlds”? The book explores this question in multiple ways and thus answers it thoroughly.

Even though the narrative starts backwards – with Oppenheimer’s funeral – the story floats mostly chronologically afterwards. We are informed about Oppenheimer’s family of Jewish immigrants in New York and his childhood in the blissful world of material satisfaction. Many years later he would admit that the peaceful and well- off being of his childhood made his realization of the real world almost unbearable (a probable reason for his persistent depression). His teenage days were not that easy because he was constantly mocked by his peers and more often than not became victim of their practical jokes as punishment for him being a rich kid and a weirdo.

When he was accepted to Harvard, he majored in Chemistry but soon discovered that his real love was Physics and after graduating a year earlier he decided to go to England where he could really learn physics. By this time the young man had many issues mostly related to his lack of social skills resulting in inability to maintain relationships or even friendships. His progress in this respect impressed me because later he managed to become a real leader in Los Alamos where he was the glue sticking all these haughty scientists together as a team.

The biography delves deeper into the so called Manhattan Project and discusses the historical, the geopolitical and the scientific necessity of the nuclear bomb. Oppenheimer himself realized it was only a matter of time before another scientist made the discovery and for that reason reacted negatively to President Truman’s statement that the Russians would never have it. As a straightforward person the physicist really was a piece of work – he always spoke his mind and that brought him enough enemies to discredit him after the war. But the most shocking was that he actually never came to terms with the way the US government used his discovery and spent the rest of his life trying to oppose the making of hydrogen bomb.

When one finishes the book one realizes that the tragedy of Oppenheimer actually does repeat the tragedy of Prometheus not only as far as personal punishment is concerned. People are never ready to possess divine powers. The tragedy of August 6^th and 9^th makes us recall this truth every year.